It was Fate
by HisuiKaze
Summary: [ NejiSaku ] When a dangerous idea is passed down from one genius to the next, can a stray cherry blossom help change the path before it's too late?
1. Memories

**Disclaimer**: God, if I owned Naruto…I don't think you want to know…

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For Konoha it was relatively normal day, something that was becoming even rarer as time passed. Sun was shinning down on the happy village and the five faces carved into the mountain almost seemed to be smiling. It had taken about two years, but the Godaime's face had finally been added. A light breeze rustled the leaves and helped make the summer sun bearable.

This was Konoha eight years after Sasuke left.

One certain man who was traveling down a well beaten dirt path failed to notice any of it. His footsteps appeared somewhat hurried, and though his lips almost always were turned down at the corners, he seemed angry, or annoyed, about something. He stopped as before him now stood the ever familiar Konoha Hospital.

His feet hesitated when his bandaged hand pressed up against the entrance, about to push it. After a few seconds he grit teeth and applied pressure to the heavy door, swinging it open to the tune of jingling bells.

Now, it wasn't that this man hated the hospital, nor the things inside of it, but he hated that he found himself at this very place quite often. He was ANBU after all, and coming here so much would put a dent in his reputation.

Nevertheless, he stepped into the cool waiting room to find himself surrounded by uncomfortable chairs, old magazines, immaculate white walls, and people, all anxious for their loved ones to be healed. The secretary looked up at his entry and gave a small nod. How sad that she recognized him. Then again, his unmistakable inherited eyes easily gave away his identity.

Just as the man forced his legs to move again, two female medics came walking around the corner. One he did not recognize, but the other, with her pastel pink hair, he had come to know quite well.

Just his luck that she would be the one to come walking down the hall at the precise moment he entered. His white eyes watched as she turned to talk animatedly with the other nurse. The secretary interrupted their conversation by saying her name, and after gaining her attention, the girl pointed back to where the dark-haired ANBU was standing.

The medical-nin turned, her eyebrows knit, but when those bright green eyes landed on the man standing in the waiting room she smiled.

"Neji! Back again?"

That was the last straw. The Hyuuga felt himself turn to head back out into the warm air. Although the girl had probably only meant it as a joke, his head morphed it into mocking - not to mention this man's sense of humor was just about non-existent. He had been arguing with himself before coming, and the side that said he didn't need this was winning. There had been tales of men continuing to fight with worse injuries than his. Like his old teammate, Lee.

He heard her hurried footsteps across the tile and felt her hand grab onto the back of his uniform, stopping him. Sure, it would have been easy to escape, but in the back of his mind he knew he should get the break fixed.

"Wait! I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," She apologized. Neji turned his head to look at her, noticing the sheepish smile and the way her pink hair was pulled back into a messy bun and falling all around her face.

"I don't need this," He said, somewhat contradicting what he was thinking. He watched her eyes travel down his body, landing on his sickeningly bruised and disfigured arm. He saw her face twist slightly, but it wasn't as if she hadn't seen something like this before.

Yes, Neji had broken his arm, and he felt extremely foolish about it.

"This is a pretty bad break," commented Sakura. She had released the back of his uniform and formed a few seals. Her hands now glowed with green healing chakra that she had worked so hard to perfect, and reached for his limb.

Neji scowled and looked away. It wasn't that he didn't like Sakura; on the contrary, he respected her abilities and was grateful for all the times she had healed his many injuries, no matter how small they were. What he didn't like was how it was always her who healed him. He hated this dependence that was starting to grow inside him, no matter how hard he fought it. After she had finally made it to ANBU ranking - rumors said she only joined so she could find a certain Uchiha - Tsunade had placed them together on several missions. Neji didn't quite understand why the Fifth-Hokage did this, but during these assignments, whenever he would find himself bleeding, there she was, with those glowing hands. And whenever he came to the hospital, her smiling face would always be there, ready and willing to do anything to take away his pain.

And yet, he despised it. Neji wanted only to rely on himself.

"So what did you do this time?" Her voice broke through his silent thoughts.

Neji looked straight ahead, his mind arguing. He did come to trust the kunoichi; much like he had with TenTen back in their genin days, but the reason behind his injury was extremely embarrassing. It hurt his pride to even think about it.

"So?" She prompted. Sakura was still mending the bone together, but the ugly bruises and the large lump where the bone had stretched the skin were fast fading.

It was usually during these healing sessions that the two would have small conversations about the world. It was from the socializing here that Neji managed to keep up with current events beyond who was attacking who, and who had missions where.

"I'm not going to release you until you tell me what happened. It could be important to your health,"

If it would get her to stop nagging him…Neji drew a small breath between his teeth, then turned his head to the far wall.

"I ran into a tree," He said, his eyes now closed and all pride pushed aside.

All movement around him stopped. Even the people in the waiting room seemed frozen though he was very sure his whisper had not reached their ears. Sakura's hands were no longer moving up and down his arm.

He heard her give a small snort, which quickly turned into a full out laugh. Neji found his teeth grit again and eyebrows pushed together. He went over the words in his mind, and it took a few seconds before he realized that the way he said it was completely different then the way it had happened.

In truth, he and his ANBU team were just returning from a mission and taking a quick route by jumping through the trees. Neji had his Byakugan activated, in case something was trailing them, when he suddenly noticed movement behind him. The Hyuuga had turned his head and focused all vision into that area, forgetting where he was going, when a large dark shape entered his fringe vision. At first, he ignored it, but when a teammate behind yelled at him, Neji turned and barley dodged the large trunk of the oak tree. Unfortunately his arm was the part of him that he didn't pull out of the way in time, and the limb hit not only the trunk full force, but a branch caught him in the center of his forearm. The crack had been loud and he remembered it echoing through the forest as his team came over to help him.

Neji just wanted to remove himself now from the strange stares he was receiving from the villagers in the waiting room. They were undoubtedly wondering what the girl was laughing so hard about, and maybe even thinking Neji had just told a joke - something that was near impossible.

Finally growing very annoyed with her voice in his ear and unable to think of a better way to stop her, Neji slapped his opposite hand over the roseate-haired girl's mouth. With her voice cut off so abruptly, Sakura remembered where she was and quickly became subdued so that Neji could let his hand drop.

"Are you finished?" He asked. She could only nod because images of Neji running face first into a tree were replaying themselves in her mind.

"I'm sorry," she choked out. Neji's gaze softened slightly. It was then that he realized how late it was becoming. Outside the door, shadows were growing longer. He needed to get home quickly and report to Hiashi-sama, lest the Head of the Household think he was dawdling. He also didn't want to tell him about his injury, for Hiashi would certainly think him incapable of protecting Hinata-sama.

"There, I'm done, now if you'll just let me wrap -"

"I don't have time for that." Neji cut her off. He turned to face the kunoichi and gave a small nod of thanks before his hands came together and he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sakura sighed and folded her arms across her chest. Neji was such a head strong boy - much like herself, even if she wouldn't admit it, - but Sakura really cared about him. At first, like most people, she had disliked Neji and stayed away from him because he was a very cold and distant boy. Now that she thought about it, that had been quite hypocritical of her.

But then there was one day when they were both Jounin level and on a mission together. It was an A-ranked and they were guarding a very wealthy lord who was traveling across several countries. As they passed into the country of Lightning, their final destination, they were ambushed. Neji had taken the initiative and volunteered to take out these opposing shinobi quickly so that they could finish the mission, while Sakura and the others grouped around the Lord. There were only three Cloud ninja's and they looked relatively weak.

Neji had formed his 'Gentle Fist' pose, and quickly preformed the Kaiten when several different weapons were launched at him. When the chakra around him stopped, he noticed that they were coming in for a direct attack. Thinking he had the upper hand, Neji allowed them to close in before preparing to use the Hakkeshou.

Just as he was about to unleash it, one of the attackers showed surprising speed, and came close enough that Neji was forced to stop and block his attack. What he wasn't expecting, however, was for the man to have a large blade for a hand. As the Hyuuga reached out to stop the arm coming towards him, the Cloud's sleeve fell and a bright glint nearly blinded him. Neji had to quickly pull back his hand before it was cut off, and suffered a very large slash across his chest in return. Sakura remembered watching him fall, seeing his blood spill all around, and the astonished cries from her teammates. They had run forward in place of Neji and started fighting with their various techniques, now easily finishing them off because they knew they only used weapon abilities. Sakura was forced to stay back and protect the Lord while watching Neji try and pull himself to his feet.

That night they had to stop their travels so that Sakura could mend Neji's wound and give him time to rest. The two were also keeping watch together in front of a small fire; well, it was mostly Neji keeping an eye on everything with his Byakugan while Sakura was stitching together the cut with chakra. Because Neji was sitting in front of her with his shirt off, it was hard for her eyes not to wander along his well defined chest, but she noticed a long scar that was positioned just above his heart. After her healing had finished, and he had pulled his shirt back on, curiosity got the best of the kunoichi.

"Neji, where did you get that scar? The one above your heart, I mean,"

At her question, the dark-haired boy had narrowed his eyes.

"Did no one tell you?" He asked. Sakura was shocked.

"About what?"

"When we were chasing Uchiha Sasuke,"

Actually, no one had and for various reasons. Naruto would have exaggerated the story too much in his favor; Lee would have added some colorful adjectives that took away from what really happened; Kiba's way of speaking was very rough and the constant interruptions from Akamaru would have made it harder to understand; Chouji would tell the story through a mouthful of chips; Shikamaru would have told her it was too troublesome and to go ask someone else. In truth, Neji was the perfect (and only) person to narrate the story. Besides, she knew that each boy had fought separate battles and that no one understood the entire happenings.

"No," Sakura replied. "No one ever told me anything," And thus Neji began the tale, explaining to her how Shikamaru had lead the group, how they had escaped the earth prison, how Chouji was the first to peel off from the group, and then how he had fought the spider-like man, Kidoumaru. She was shocked to hear about his near death experience, and at the end of his tale she saw a small smile grace his features. It was then that her heart went out to Neji and she almost wanted to hug him. Sakura was also amazed at how easy it was to talk to him once they were alone.

That had been the beginning of her acceptance of the Hyuuga, and after she learned a little more about his family she realized how alone he really was. Sakura also noticed how much he was like Sasuke, and this spurred her to care for him even more.

Of course, being put together in so many missions obviously helped the attraction along. Tsunade had a sick sense of humor.

It was then that more images of Neji running face first into a tree replayed in her mind and caused the green eyed girl to burst out laughing again.

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"Neji," a deep voice acknowledged. The two men were sitting inside a warm room, decorated with several scrolls and mostly black and purple drapes. Neji was kneeling on a tatami mat, his head bowed in respect for the Head of House. Hinata sat beside her father as she was now learning the many rituals of the main house.

"I see your mission was successful," Although anger coursed through his veins, Neji gave a small nod.

"Yes, Hiashi-sama," He knew he needed to keep his emotions under control; if he activated the Byakugan here he could easily find himself dead. The main house had complete control over him.

"What was your mission?" The Head Hyuuga asked. These meetings were conducted for anyone who had completed a task, as it was the Head's responsibility to keep tabs on everything that went on in any house.

"It was an assassination of a heavily guarded feudal lord who had been mercilessly killing the people in his village and selling some off as slaves."

"Were you the one who ended his life?"

"Yes."

Hiashi gave a small nod. "You are dismissed."

Neji stood and gave a small bow. He exited the room and headed towards his own house. Small footsteps followed, until a head of dark purplish hair was visible beside him.

"N-Neji-niisan, are you okay? Your arm looks swollen…"

Hinata had always been a caring and compassionate girl, so it wasn't surprising that she would notice her cousin's injury while Hiashi did not.

"Yes, Hinata-sama. Excuse me, as I would like to go and rest now." As always, he followed proper procedure when around the main house members. He heard Hinata give a small sigh, and her white eyes watched him bow and turn to leave. Even if he despised her, Hinata had a large amount of respect for Neji and she worried over him like an older sister - except she was a year younger.

The dark-haired ANBU walked along the wooden planks, listening to their soft squeaking and the thuds as his feet hit. The sun was falling behind the mountain now, and the soft noises, ones that he enjoyed, were starting up. Although one might not think Neji enjoyed the beauty of nature, he did. Mostly because it was something that wasn't caged like him - it was free.

He undressed and crawled into his low lying bed, glancing out his window one last time. Just before sleep captured him, he remembered that there was another meeting to give out missions. For some reason he knew that he would be paired with Sakura again.

It was fate…

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It was another beautiful morning, even if it did start at 5:00 P.M. Strangely enough Tsunade did like to hold the meetings early in the day, even if she could barely stay awake though them.

Neji had woken early, showered, brushed his teeth, dressed in his ANBU uniform, combed his long hair, and tied it back neatly before sitting down to a lonely meal. No one else in the house was awake yet, mostly because it was so early and not too many in the branch house had ever attained the rank of ANBU. Neji's eyes fell on the clock after he had drank the last of his morning tea. It was still only 4:30. The dark-haired boy decided that sitting alone in the meeting hall would be better then sitting alone in his own house, so he brought his hands together, one hand with two fingers up and two folded over the other positioned in the same manor, and after one second he disappeared with a pop.

Neji was mildly surprised when he saw a couple people milling around the cramped room. One was Rock Lee, who had only joined ANBU a few years ago once he proved that he could easily assassinate someone with just taijutsu. There were a few others whom he was acquainted with, but in the corner was Inuzuka Kiba with his now very large dog, Akamaru. Their double team attacks were perfect for ANBU rank missions, but they still needed practice in the area of stealth.

"My eternal rival! Neji!"

Staying home was starting to sound like the better idea now.

"Good morning, Lee," The long-haired boy replied. Lee had coming bounding up to him, still sporting that ridiculous green spandex suit and orange leg warmers. Even though he was ANBU now, he refused to wear the uniform, saying it didn't breathe easily enough. Lee looked a lot more like Gai now, but his hair had grown out of that bowl cut. It had taken some serious convincing from Sakura, but she lied and said it would make him better at Taijutsu. Now he kept it braided and almost everyone had praised the kunoichi for getting him to change it. Well, except for Gai. He had cried over his adorable student's decision.

Now Lee's rivalry was out in the open. He was pushing it on the Hyuuga much like their former sensei had (and still did) on Hatake Kakashi. Neji had learned to tune Lee out and was now watching a rather bedraggled looking Sakura walk through the doors. She spotted Neji easily and made her way over to their corner. When the kunoichi came close, Neji could see dark bags under her eyes.

"Oohayo…" She said, reaching up to rub her tired orbs.

"Sakura-san! You grow more beautiful with every passing day…" exclaimed Lee. He continued on this rant now, and just as the Hyuuga, Sakura had learned to tune him out.

"I had to pull an all-nighter at the hospital. Just after you left, a patient was rushed in on a stretcher and in critical condition. We spent all night trying to repair his body. It wasn't until just an hour ago that he woke up and was able to eat some food. I figured it was too late to sleep and instead found my way over here." Sakura explained this even though Neji never asked - it was something he'd grown used to over time.

"Who was this boy?"

"His name was Kotetsu," The tired girl replied.

"…and that is why I will protect you with my life!" Lee was now in his 'nice guy' pose. Sakura looked over at him, an eyebrow raised.

"Ah…thanks Lee…" Konoha's Azure Beast flashed her a smile, before turning to his rival again.

"What do you say to that, Neji!"

"Did you say something?" Neji's white eyes were calmly watching his face.

"That is why you are my coolest rival!" Lee cried out. Sakura gave a small laugh. Lee had gained so much from his Gai-Sensei…

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The meeting was about five minutes from starting, the room was mostly filled, and the Hokage was still absent. Sakura sat between Neji and Lee in order to keep peace, but she kept dozing off every few minutes before waking with a start. Lee was telling her she could sleep on his shoulder, because he'd do anything to help her, but she would politely refuse him and then drift off again a minute later. This exchange was starting to annoy the Hyuuga, and he was hoping that the Godaime would hurry up and give them their missions. Of course, if he was paired with Sakura again, her tiredness would be a huge handicap.

Neji chose now to occupy himself with the wood paneled ceiling, when his ears picked up an argument behind the door.

"I wasn't sleeping!" He heard an angry female voice say. The door flew open and almost off its hinges as Tsunade, not looking a day over twenty because of her Henge, stalked into the room.

"Alright, shut up everybody and let's get this over with." The Hokage sat down behind a desk at the front of the room and pulled a rather wrinkled paper from her pocket. There were a few snickers going around the crowd now because most had noticed the black lines of writing that were smudged onto her forehead over the trademark purple diamond. Apparently she had been sleeping.

Sakura stifled another giggle at her mentor. Tsunade had done this many times when she was under her training. The Godaime gave small cough, before reading off names.

"Inuzuka Kiba, Rock Lee…"

The list went on for some time. Each was assigned to a group of four and given the most dangerous missions the village received. Many had assassinations, some were put in charge of scouting out dangerous areas, but when Tsunade came to the next group…

"Watanabe Shisui, Yamada Koji, Hyuuga Neji, and Haruno Sakura."

The pink-haired kunoichi mouthed the last words along with Tsunade. Amazing how she knew she'd be in Neji's group. Her mentor did have a sick sense of humor.

"Your mission is an escort." The Hokage tossed a scroll at Neji, who easily caught it. "Please do your best,"

With that, Tsunade stuffed the paper in her pocket, and made shooing motions at the crowd. There were several 'poofs' as the teams left the room, but Sakura, Neji, and their teammates stayed.

"Here we go again,"

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A/N: Hi everyone! I hope you all enjoyed this new story I've cooked up. This chapter was kinda boring, just mostly setting up the plot and stuff.

Please don't bite my head off for making Neji run into a tree I mostly did it because it's funny, and I wanted to prove that Neji's human, just like the rest of us. We all make serious mistakes…k? Don't worry, he's going to be really strong next chapter

I hope I didn't make them too OOC. I mean, I tried really hard to keep Neji within his barriers (ha) and Sakura just that cheery headstrong girl. I'm going to do a lot more character development in this one, and use a lot more of the various Naruto characters than my SasuSaku. Heh.

Umm, please review and let me know if there's something you think is wrong or makes no sense. I'm really trying to make this one detailed and stuff…so…yeah.


	2. Tsukiyomi

**Disclaimer**: Sasuke and Neji are mine! Or at least…I wish they were mine…

A/N: Ahh! I'm so happy you all were laughing at Neji running into a tree! Be prepared though, because this chapter isn't so happy.

"_Take your time baby, the clock is slowing down…"_

_- 'Wind' by Akeboshi_

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Anti-climactic was probably the best word you could use to describe the situation. Sakura had been expecting something strange to happen on their mission, and their instructions on the scroll warned of an ambush, but none had come.

So now the disgruntled ANBU team was slowly making their way back to Konoha after only two days of escorting a grumpy old Lord who could think of nothing better to do then complain.

"That was a waste of time," growled Shisui. He was a tall lanky looking man with dark blonde hair. The mask hiding his face muffled his voice and disguised the most likely disgusted look. The man was surely angry at being sent on what could now be ranked C-class. Not that Neji wasn't as well, but the Hyuuga was a master of hiding his emotions. Koji, a man of medium build with black hair, was silent, but beneath his lion shaped mask there was sure to be a deep-set scowl.

On the other hand, Sakura had been rather glad at the mission's ease because she was incredibly tired at the time. They had spent the night at one point, mostly for her benefit - they all knew that she was drained of chakra and had been awake for nearly forty hours straight.

As they traveled through the forest, feeling somewhat refreshed from what one could call a "paid vacation", no sun burst through the canopy and warmed them. A cool breeze had blow up and the smell of fresh clean earth right after rainfall and it filled their senses. Behind his eagle mask, Neji had the Byakugan activated and was keeping a much closer eye out for those sneaky trees that would jump out in front of him right when he was distracted. But he was feeling worry, a sort of growing anticipation, as they continued their travels through the outskirts of the country of fire. The signs all around indicated something…or someone was around.

There it was! Neji's long hair slapped down against his back as he halted suddenly, throwing out a hand to alert the others. They joined him on the thick branch silently, all following his gloved hand. He pointed down, about fifty feet in front of them. Sakura gave a small, almost inaudible gasp.

A man was standing in a clearing, not moving, speaking, or even appearing to breathe. What caused her quick intake of breath was the red clouds that were embroidered across the bottom of his long dark cloak.

Akatsuki.

Chances were that the renegade ninja was already aware of their presence. There was no chance for escape, even if Neji had allowed them. But here was his chance to take out a missing-nin and climb his way up the ladder even further, then 'calmly' and 'politely' shove it into Hiashi's face. Besides, ANBU were expected to handle these situations when they came across them.

Sakura found it rather strange that an Akatsuki member was loitering around an open meadow, much less in fire territory where there were constant sweeps of the area. Didn't they also travel in groups of two now?

There was no more time to mull on this because Neji was making signs with his hands. It was a sort of made-up sign language used when speaking would alert their prey. When he finished and pointed, the other two on the team nodded and then jumped away with a slight swooshing noise. Neji follow them with his Byakugan while taking a closer look at the Akatsuki's chakra channels. He could see that this man had an enormous amount, and a large portion was being transferred to his head, or more specifically, his eyes.

Neji now had a very good idea of who this was.

Again, his talented hand rose in the air, posed in a sign for stop, but then he snapped it sideways, and all four of the ANBU leapt down from the trees in an effort to ambush.

Needless to say, it didn't go quite as smoothly as planned. Mostly because as soon as Neji and Sakura came close, he lifted his head and stared at them with piercing red eyes.

Sharingan!

Sakura stopped so fast her deer shaped mask threatened to rip off of her face. The kunoichi's heart was beating twice as fast as normal as she pulled her eyes from his steady gaze. The bingo book warned not to make direct contact with them.

Neji continued diving down, along with Koji and Shisui coming towards the man's back.

Sakura stood frozen on a lower tree branch. She couldn't believe it…

"Uchiha….Itachi…." The words came out as a whisper. The kunai she had drawn to attack with slipped out of hand and stuck into the tree below her with a dull thud.

"N…no!" She tried to cry out, but her throat and mouth were dry. Helplessly she watched as Itachi spun around to face her other teammates. There was a second of silence before the agonized screams of Shisui and Koji echoed throughout the trees. Neji was still rushing towards him, and grinned in triumph as his hand reached forward and struck Itachi in the back.

As expected, it wasn't really the Akatsuki member, as his body simply disappeared. Neji immediately set up in a defensive pose, using his eyes to see all around.

'…Nothing…' He thought, until a blur suddenly appeared in front of him. There were two kunai in Itachi's hands, which he promptly stuck into the chests of the two fallen comrades. The Hyuuga's white eyes narrowed. Where was Sakura? And why hadn't she taken care of them?

The pink-haired kunoichi was still standing frozen up high, extreme guilt coursing through her veins. She had just sat and let them die. Her brain was screaming at her legs, telling them to go and aide her teammates. Even though she knew it was fruitless now. Their chests were no longer rising and falling; it didn't take the Byakugan to spot a dead man.

"Sakura!" Neji called out, now facing off with Itachi. The girl started at his words, but found she still could not move. Sakura felt cold sharingan eyes looking up at her for a second. Tears were gathering at the corners of her eyes. She was just going to sit here and watch Neji die!

"No! Neji! He'll kill you!" She heard herself say, but it wasn't loud enough. Neji had just started using the Hakkeshou, though now it had been expanded to strike 128 of the tenketsu. Sakura's jade eyes followed his swift movements, seeing Itachi dodge or block 127 of the strikes, until Neji finally landed a hit right in the center of his shoulder. The kunoichi recognized it as the same point he had tried using on Naruto during the first chuunin exam. The missing-nin's feet stumbled slightly, and Neji used this opportunity to start expelling chakra from all his points and spin rapidly. The Kaiten.

Itachi disappeared from view, and Neji sensed his presence behind, and so began a series of taijutsu moves with his unique 'Gentle Fist' style. Again Itachi was sent on the defensive, keeping the ANBU's deadly fingertips from touching his vital spots. After a quick concentrated use of his sharingan, he was able to predict Neji's next move and managed to gab onto the boy's wrist.

This stopped the movement, and up in the tree Sakura gasped.

"No!" She cried out, much louder this time. The kunoichi did not want to see Neji die…But what would get her feet to move again?

The two held that position for some time.

"Your clan is weak, Hyuuga," Itachi whispered in a very calm voice. The Byakugan user felt a little of his usual control snapping, and his veined eyes grew even angrier. He started to spin again, releasing chakra from the tenketsu, and this caused Itachi to jump away. He stood about ten feet from Neji now, and it was becoming hard for the Hyuuga to keep his eyes down so he would not get caught in the Genjutsu Koji and Shisui had suffered from. He calmly formed the gentle fist pose again, taking deep even breaths to steady himself. Neji would force Itachi to come to him, play the defensive side this round. It occurred to the dark-haired ANBU that the Akatsuki member would not leave until there was no one to track him.

No emotions passed over the sharingan user's face. There were a few minutes of silence, where in both surveyed the other, Neji also looked over to Sakura who appeared to be crying beneath her mask. Her signs of weakness were very much starting to annoy him.

If only he understood. Sakura couldn't attack Itachi for one reason. She still felt obligated to Sasuke in some way, and knew he had to kill his brother. If Neji did it…there could - no, would - be hell to pay.

'So you're going to let Itachi kill Neji because of a boy who disappeared eight years ago and could be dead for all you know!' Inner Sakura was yelling at her. 'Hell no! Move damn it!'

Yet her feet stayed rooted to the tree, as if she was becoming a part of it.

Neji stared down at Itachi's feet, waiting for movement. It was becoming hard to focus his entire vision away for the man's eyes. He saw Itachi stretch out the shoulder with the tenketsu that he had managed to shut down, then suddenly move behind him, Neji turned, only to find Itachi behind him again. Confused, the ANBU decided to stay where he was, until the Uchiha came rushing at him.

'Foolish,' he thought, and activated another Kaiten. He watched behind him as the body was blasted away before disappearing. There was another in front of him now! He stopped spinning and fell into another taijutsu series, reaching out with his chakra enhanced fingertips and trying to shut down the chakra point that went directly to his eyes.

"Is this all a Hyuuga is capable of?" Itachi taunted, still a deep calm voice. "You should have followed the same path I created. Or is it that you have the mark of a caged bird?"

An audible growl escaped Neji's throat as his movements grew less accurate and controlled. Itachi's lined face remained impassive as the strikes grew harder. Chakra was expelling from his tenketsu again, and Itachi now knew he had the upper hand. He jumped back, avoiding the whirl of chakra, but quickly leapt back down just as it was coming to an end. This was a weak point of the Kaiten, for the user would still be spinning even when the chakra was gone. A kunai now sat poised in Itachi's hand as he attacked, stabbing Neji through the arm. The boy cried out, trying to use his other hand to counter and attack the chakra veins around Itachi's heart, but made the foolish mistake of looking straight into sharingan eyes in his haste.

Realizing it was now his chance, Itachi initiated his most deadly Genjutsu.

"Tsukiyomi…"

Neji's eyes closed uncontrollably. The scene before him faded to black, and when it returned, everything was bathed in a strange red light. The Hyuuga glanced around, confused, realizing he was standing just outside the sliding door to the main house. His feet felt cold against the wooden planks, and as he looked down, he saw that he was no longer wearing his ANBU uniform, but a robe much like Hiashi-sama wore. When he looked up to the sky, a bright red full moon shone down on him.

Almost instinctively Neji reached up to his forehead. There was no forehead protector there, nor the leather that he always had tied around. He noticed his hair was no longer tied back and swayed in the peaceful breeze. It felt strange…what was going on?

Suddenly, his father stepped outside the door.

"Neji?" He asked.

"O…Otou-san?" He couldn't believe it. "Is that…?" Neji reached out a hand, and just as he was about to feel the fabric of his fathers robe beneath his fingers, the man's hitai-ate fell from his head and clattered to the ground. The green x-shaped mark on his forehead was burning bright green, and Neji watched his father collapse, clutching his head.

"Otou-san!" He cried out, wanting to help him. But…what could he do? His father rolled around on the ground for a few more seconds, his agonized cries ringing in his ears. The young Hyuuga felt the Byakugan beginning to form, his anger at the Head House growing.

Neji turned, seeing Hiashi standing in the middle of the green courtyard, one hand with two fingers standing erect in front of his face. It was his fault that his father was suffering; it was Hiashi's fault his father had died!

All of a sudden, Hinata stepped out from behind her father. She raised her fingers to her face, imitating her father, and Neji suddenly felt like his head was about to explode. His eyes were burning, the optical nerves being overloaded. He grasped his head, falling to his knees, cries now emitting uncontrolled from his mouth. But now he could only hear himself, his father was dead…

Neji fell down the small steps, now lying face forward on the well manicured grass of the courtyard, still feeling the burning pain in his head. He felt another pain, something stabbing into his back.

"For forty-eight hours you will see how your clan is weak…"

Another burst of pain caused him to cry out again.

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"NEJI!" Sakura screamed out. Her body finally responded to her pleas and launched off the branch, rushing towards Neji. As he was collapsing to the ground, Itachi lifted his leg and landed a powerful kick in the center of his chest, blasting the Hyuuga back into a nearby tree. There was a sickening crack as he collided.

Sakura formed seals as she ran towards Neji, who was now lying slumped against a tree with his eyes clenched shut. She dove down, placing her hands together over his chest as a big green ball of healing chakra formed below them. Even though it was fruitless, she still didn't want to see him die. If Neji couldn't kill Itachi, what made her think she could?

But maybe if she died here, no one would know it was her fault that they had all died…

'Stop thinking like that!' Sakura told herself, and kept pumping chakra into Neji. Soft footsteps approached behind her, as did the feeing of dread. The kunoichi slowly turned her head to the side to see the red hem of the Akatsuki cloak, and then swallowed hard. There was silence for a few minutes. All that moved was the green healing chakra.

"You know I can't let you live," The voice was quiet, possibly mournful. Sakura saw the fabric rustle and knew he was reaching for something. There was no wind. She took a deep breath, and responded shakily.

"Y-you k-know I can't l-let you live," Sakura dared to glance higher, still keeping concentrated on healing Neji. Itachi's mouth twitched slightly at the girl's response. Her false bravery would not hold up in battle.

The cloak fluttered again as Itachi pulled out his hands, about to form a seal. Sakura braced herself and continued healing Neji, praying that at least he would live through it. Just as the jutsu was to be released, a branch cracked in the distance. All movement stopped again, as more snapping twigs could be heard. Apparently this person had no care for their life. The ANBU and Akatsuki member watched as a figure came into view, and then leaned against a tree smugly.

Sakura's hands were shaking so much she could hardly keep up her chakra control. Itachi had taken a few steps back and regained his uncaring composure. The figure's hard onyx eyes traveled over the scene. He smirked when they landed on the ANBU member, and Sakura was fully aware as to why. They then snapped back to Itachi.

"It was foolish of you to release such a large amount of chakra when you knew I was following you," His voice was much deeper than it had been so long ago. His raven hair, surprisingly, was well groomed and kept nearly the same style. The kunoichi felt tears starting to form again and she hated herself for it, but how long had she been waiting…how she wanted to just grab onto him and never let go again!

The Akatsuki member stood still for a minute, as if thinking hard about something. He suddenly pushed off the ground, disappearing easily into the trees.

"Damn it," The figure hissed, standing up straight and about to jump after Itachi.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura suddenly cried out. The kunoichi couldn't hold it in anymore. She wouldn't let him escape again!

Emerald eyes watched as the figure froze. There was only one person who would still call him that. Slowly he turned his head towards the ANBU members, and watched as the one who was healing ripped off her mask revealing that unmistakable pink hair. Sasuke's eyes widened. Sakura? Now she was…ANBU?

"Y-you can't go! I can't let you leave! You're…a criminal!" Now she was making up excuses. Sakura had given up on healing Neji, knowing there really wasn't any more that she could do at the moment. She got to her feet unsteadily, trying to look intimidating.

Sasuke recovered from his initial shock and settled into a somewhat amused look.

"So you're going to stop me?" _'Like you did last time?'_ the taunting words ran through his head, but did not escape his mouth. Truthfully, not a week had gone by without him thinking about the only people he had ever considered 'precious'. And it was both a blessing and curse to see one of them again.

Sakura pulled a kunai from her weapons pouch and threw it at him, missing by five feet. Sasuke didn't even have to move. He then disappeared, moving too fast for the eyes, before he appeared behind Sakura, much as he had that fateful day. The sharingan user didn't have time for this. He had to continue his chase. Sasuke raised a hand and struck her neck, only to inhale a cloud of smoke.

"Kawarimi was the only jutsu you were good at," He said, turning back to face the ANBU she had been healing. Sakura jumped down from the trees she was hiding in, on the opposite side of Neji. They stared into one another's eyes for a few seconds.

"Sasuke-kun…" Sakura whispered, and then abruptly fainted, falling back onto the leaf covered earth. The rush of emotions had overwhelmed her system, and her mind couldn't handle the stress any longer. Sasuke stood for a moment, looking around at the ANBU squad, all either dead or unconscious. He stepped over to the ANBU leaning against the tree and pulled off his mask, only vaguely recognizing the face. Sasuke looked back at Sakura, and then lifted his hands to form a few seals. He wasn't completely heartless…

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The sky was nearly black when Sakura woke up. Something warm was pressed up against the side of her face, and a quick check with her eyes proved it to be Neji's shoulder. Sakura realized that she was leaning up against both the tree and Neji, but what disturbed her is she didn't know how she came to be in this position. Also, Neji seemed to be shivering in his unconsciousness. Not to mention there was a weird orange light nearly blinding her. Wait…

"Fire?" The kunoichi sat up and leaned closer to the small fire that was burning before her.

"Sasuke-kun…?" Her memories were starting to flood back. Did Sasuke…do this? She looked around, but could not see the man. Her attention was abruptly brought back to Neji, who had made a strange noise. Now in full medic mode, she pulled out her pouch and started the complex healing process. It was, after all, a mental attack rather than physical…

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When Neji's eyes finally opened, he had no immediate recollection of what had happened to him. The first thing he saw was someone's back, outlined by an orange light. It was somewhat dark out too. Something wet rolled down the side of his face. He cautiously lifted a hand from under a thin blanket that had been placed on him and touched it.

It wasn't blood.

This relieved him, and with that he called out to the person standing by the fire. They seemed to jump, then turn. Oh…it was Sakura.

"Neji?" She asked, before suddenly moving forward and wrapping her arms around him. "I'm so glad you're okay!" It had taken Neji a full two days to finally wake up.

The Hyuuga tensed at first from her touch, until he thought about her words. No one had really ever said that to him, unless it was Hiashi's relatively uncaring voiceor Hinata.

But here Sakura was, hugging him out of relief.

She was glad that he was…alive…

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A/N: Big change of pace from the last chapter - but this one became extremely important for the plot (which I just happened to come up with a few hours ago!)

Next chapter will probably re-introduce all the characters, so you get to see how they all changed and stuff…

For those crazy people: IT IS NOT A TRIANGLE! Sasuke just had to appear…because…well, I can't tell you (I really do know though! cough)

Summary changed to go with my plot!

Ano…Yeah…The fight was kind of weird…

Anyways, hope you like! C&C is always welcome. I need to do a response sometime maybe…This chapter might bring some interesting comments.

Hisui


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